President Jokowi's Important Instructions To Minister Of Health Budi Prevent Monkeypox: Entry Gates Are Tightly Guarded

President Joko Widodo greets traders during his working visit at Pucang Anom Market, Surabaya, East Java/ANTARA

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo has ordered Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin and his staff to carry out strict checks at the country's entry gates to prevent the spread of monkeypox.

"For places with high interaction, then the entry gates to our country are really strictly checked," said President Jokowi in Jakarta, Antara, Tuesday, August 23.

On August 20, 2022, the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) announced the findings of the first confirmed case of monkeypox in Indonesia in a 27-year-old male patient who lives in DKI Jakarta.

"I have ordered the Minister of Health, first of all, the issue of vaccines immediately," added the President.

However, even though there have been positive cases found in Indonesia, President Jokowi asked the public not to immediately panic.

"But we also don't need to panic too much because the transmission is through direct contact, not through 'droplets'. I think the most important thing is our readiness to deal with it," said the President.

It is known that the patient experienced health complaints a few days after returning to Indonesia, after a tour to several countries in Western Europe, on August 8, 2022.

According to the DKI Jakarta Health Office, there were three people who were close contacts in the first confirmed case of monkeypox. All three are in good health and have no health complaints.

The symptoms of monkeypox generally begin with fever, headache and swollen lymph nodes found in the neck, armpit or groin (groin).

In addition, these common symptoms can be accompanied by complaints of muscle aches, backaches, and prolonged fatigue.

After one to three days since the fever, symptoms will be followed by the appearance of a rash on the skin in several parts of the body, in the form of red spots like smallpox, small blisters filled with clear fluid or filled with pus which then become scabs and fall off.

Monkeypox, apart from being transmitted through direct contact from sick animals to humans, can also be transmitted between humans and through objects contaminated with viruses.

However, transmission of monkeypox between humans is not easy. For human-to-human transmission, it can be through close contact with "droplets", body fluids or direct skin-to-skin contact with rashes, including through sexual contact.

Transmission can also occur through indirect contact with contaminated objects, such as clothes, bedding, towels or unwashed cutlery/plates.